Things to Think About
by Fi101
Summary: Rallen's days as a NPP Cadet. A new adventure could unfold every day... Slighty RallenxJeena
1. First Impressions Are Everything

**Chapter 1: First Impressions are everything**

"Err… Rallen Rimorpertus, new NPP Cadet…" Rallen's voice trailed off. He was very shy. He had recently turned 11. He had short red hair and was 4 foot 9 inches tall. He wore a white shirt, blue jeans and a pair of white trainers and was carrying a rucksack full of things he needed. He was stood in front of two huge silver gates. The light shone off them and into Rallen's eyes. He could barely look at them. A deep male voice boomed from a speaker next to the gate.  
"Ah_, yes! New recruit for the new semester! Please come in!_"

At 11 yrs old, Rallen had never had an experience of a social life. He had been home-schooled previously. He wanted to join the NPP Cadet Corps to experience a social learning environment. All his life he had wanted to be a NPP officer. They were so cool! They got to go on missions all over the Nanairo System. They got all sorts of cool weapons and got to meet lots of cool people!

Standing in front of these huge gates made Rallen want to change his mind. All of a sudden the was a deep rumbling in the ground. The gates were starting to open. This made Rallen even more reluctant. The voice sounded from the speaker again.  
"_Please report to the main hall for initial briefing. Enter the main building, take the first elevator on the left and enter the door in the middle._"  
Rallen stared at the enormous compound that stood in front of him. He slowly passed through the silver gates and then the main entrance. Inside the building was a mass array of stairs, elevators, doors and portals.

_Now, where did he say to go? Erm… take the first elevator on the… right? No I think it was left… or was it right? No, no it was left._

He walked towards the elevator when a woman's voice sounded from a speaker system overhead.  
"_Initial briefing will begin in 5 minutes. I repeat, initial briefing will begin in 5 minutes. All new recruits report to the main hall immediately."_

The voice made Rallen jump. After it had finished he walked to elevator. When he entered another voice sounded.  
"_Elevator 1 to main building," and _suddenly, Rallen was moving all directions. He had to close his eyes and hold on to a rail so he wouldn't get dizzy. After what seemed like forever, he stopped. He slowly opened his eyes and walked out of the elevator. It was like he was in a different place! The whole place was buzzing with life! Many older looking people in uniform with big, metal gloves were walking around calmly and many smaller people in civilian close were stood still with a map looking lost. Suddenly, a large man in a very grand, important looking uniform stepped out from a very large door in the centre, followed by a smaller younger looking man, also in a very important looking uniform.  
"All new cadets! Please come here for initial briefing! _NOW!" _Once again Rallen jumped at such a loud voice. He swiftly walked toward the door, like many other young, nervous looking people.

Everybody was sat down in the main hall. Rallen couldn't believe how big it was. It could have fit over 10,000 people! Only about half was filled today though. Rallen was sat next to a confident looking boy with bright green hair with a wireless earphone in one ear. The boy turned to him.  
"What you lookin' at?" the boy snapped. Rallen quickly looked away. On the other side was a small girl with short pink hair. She looked at lot more friendly than the other boy. She turned. She give him a friendly smile. Rallen blushed a bit. He gave a weak smile back and quickly turned away. The large man in the important uniform walked to the front of the room. The younger looking man followed. He stood on a large pedestal and began to speak.  
"Welcome to the Nanairo Plantary Patrol Cadets! You have all been enrolled for a 7 year course when you can then choose to work as an officer, an engineer, a researcher or an explorer. During your stay here we welcome freedom and curiosity! But we just have a few rules that we would like you to keep while you are here. Number 1; Do not go into the opposite gender's dorm building! Number 2; Do not enter a NPP officer's, engineer's, researcher's or professor's office without permission! Number 3; Complete all work set by professors! Number 4; Do not irritate me or the assistant Commander! If you do, you'll know you have…" Rallen cringed at this.  
"Today we will assign rooms to each of you, eat supper and then go to bed! Tomorrow it's a 8am start for breakfast followed by each of you reporting to the assistant commander's office in alphabetical order, to choose which studies you will be undertaking. This is very important as it will determine what you become when you graduate. Thank you for your patience. You can receive your room assignments outside from the assistant commander now. Thank you." The large man stepped off the pedestal. The younger looking man stepped towards him and whispered something in his ear. The large man stepped back on the pedestal.  
"But before we leave, perhaps we should introduce ourselves. I am the commander of the NPP. Commander Johnson. The man you see next to me here," Johnson gestured toward the younger looking man, "is Assistant Commander Grant. Now you may leave to get your room assignments." The commander stepped off the pedestal and left the room. All the children in the room stood up and began to leave also. When Rallen stood up, the girl with the pink hair next to him tapped him on the shoulder.  
"Hi," she said, "My name is Jeena Roseus. What's your name?" she asked.  
"Rallen Rimorpertus," he said weakly.  
"Well Rallen, are you excited? These are going to be some of the best of our lives! Don't you think so?"  
"I guess…"Rallen said  
"So I'll see you around?" Jeena asked. "Maybe I'll sit with you at supper?"  
"Okay, see ya…" Rallen said.  
Jeena walked out.

_Darn it. I should have been more impulsive. Mom always told me that first impressions were everything…_


	2. Vulnerability doesn't have to be threate

**Chapter 2: Vulnerability doesn't have to be threatening**

Rallen lay awake in his bed. It was 6am. His roommate, Malcolm Viridis, was fast asleep in his bed on the opposite side of the room, snoring loudly. Malcolm was the green-haired boy Rallen had unfortunately met earlier. Rallen had hoped the tension between them would be broken by them sharing rooms but it had only made things worse. Malcolm was a bit of a control-freak. He always had to have things his way.  
Rallen quietly stepped out of his bed. He looked around. His room was quite modern. There was a desk with a PC on it. On either side of the room were two wardrobes and chests of drawers. There was also a small personal table next to each bed. There were two doors in the room, one leading into a corridor, the other into an en-suite bathroom. Rallen liked it and hoped he would become more accustomed to it. He would have to over the next seven years.  
About 30mins later, Rallen emerged from the bathroom, full washed and dressed for the day. Rallen sat on his bed and thought about the day to come

_Today should be… interesting… As long as I don't get hassled by that Malcolm kid as much as last night.  
Maybe my choices will cheer me up. And I guess I get to fully me the assistant commander.  
But, it might be difficult talking to a person with such high authority. I hope he isn't the sort of adult who picks on you. That way, I'd be quite vulnerable…  
_

"Hey! Red head! Enjoy your sleep?" Malcolm asked sarcastically. "Or did you need your mommy to tuck you in? Or your precious teddy bear?" He laughed in Rallen's face.  
Rallen quickly left the room. Hopefully he'd quickly be able to find Jeena at breakfast. He didn't want to have to sit by himself.

Rallen entered the dining hall. Once again, he was surprised at the size of the room. There were hundreds of tables, full of children sat waiting for breakfast to be served. Quite quickly, he saw Jeena waving to him from a table near the back of the room. She was sat with another boy with short brown hair.  
"Good morning, Rallen! Did you have a nice night?" She asked politely.  
"It was okay I guess. And yourself?" Rallen replied.  
"Not so great, my roommate was up all night talking on her cell phone to her friend outside of the Cadets. But I've already had some coffee so I'm sure I'll be alright. Oh, by the way, this is my friend Harry," gesturing towards the brown haired boy on the other side of the table. "I met him when we were leaving the main building yesterday,"  
"So you're Rallen." Harry said shaking Rallen's hand. Rallen was surprised that Jeena had already mentioned him.  
"Hi," Rallen said.  
"Harry and I were just talking about what we wanted to be when we graduated." Jeena said.  
"Oh cool," Rallen responded. "What do you want to be Harry?"  
"Erm… I think an engineer, I'm quite good with machinery but I'll see where my career takes me. What about you Rallen?"  
"Officer," Rallen responded instantly.  
"Wow," Jeena said. "Looks like you've got your mind made up,"

It was about 2 hours after breakfast and study talks were well under way. Rallen would be called soon.  
"_Harry Quadruplator, please report to the assistant commander's office. Harry Quadruplator, please report to the assistant commander's office." _The speaker system sounded from overhead.  
"That's me!" Harry said excitedly. "I'll see you guys soon." Harry dashed off. Rallen and Jeena were sat on a bench in the lobby between the girls and boys dormitories. Harry had carried the conversation and now there was an awkward silence.  
"So…," Rallen said breaking the silence, "Where do you come from?"  
"Nessa," Jeena replied. "That's why my skin is so tanned. I was part of a small village. I imagine you have heard of Cyrus Express?"  
"Cyrus Express? No, what is it?" Rallen asked.  
"What? Really? You've never heard of it?" Jeena said looking surprised. "I guess Cyrus has some work to do… The Cyrus' Express is only one of the largest corporations in the Nanairo system!"  
"Seriously? Wow! What sort of things do they sell," Rallen asked curiously.  
"Oh weapons, and other stuff explorers need. Maybe you've never heard of it because you come from… where do you come from?"  
"Kollin. Not far from here actually."  
"_Rallen Rimorpertus, please report to the assistant commander's office. Rallen Rimorpertus, please report to the assistant commander's office."  
"_That's me…" Rallen began to feel nervous.  
"Good luck!" Jeena shouted as Rallen slowly walked away.

Rallen walked towards the door into the office. The door was large and metal with a golden crest with 'Assistant Commander Grant' printed on it. Rallen knocked on the door. There was a short silence and then the door opened mechanically.  
"Come in," A voice sounded from inside. Rallen went inside and the door closed behind him.

The office was quite large. It had red carpet and white walls decorated with awards and photos of the assistant commander and his family and friends. There was a single large window at the back. There was a desk with two chairs, one on either side. The assistant commander was sat on the furthest side.  
"Rallen Rimorpertus, is it? Come and have a seat," he said gesturing towards the other chair. Rallen sat down. Grant continued to speak. "So your study choices now will affect what you become when you graduate. Anything you would like to do particularly like to do when you graduate?"  
"Officer," Rallen said quickly. He wasn't going to change his mind.  
"Okay," Grant noted something down. "So for this you will need some knowledgeable and some defence and offence. How about…" He looked down at his notes. "Weapons and combat, Cruiser Navigation, History of the Nanairo system, Orienteering and Survival Skills?"  
"Those sound okay I guess…"  
"Okay, good, good…" Grant wrote on his paper again. "What do you think you're like towards other people?"  
"What do you mean?" Rallen asked.  
"Are you shy, friendly, talkative, bossy?"  
"Erm…" Rallen paused to think.  
"I'm gonna put you down as shy," Grant said interrupting the silence. "Okay that's all. Thank you for your time Rallen. You will receive your timetable tomorrow."  
"Okay… Thank you… sir…"

_Another chance to be impulsive lost. At least there was no chance to feel vulnerable…_


	3. Common Sense

**Chapter 3: Common Sense**

Rallen hadn't had a good morning. After being mocked by Malcolm when waking up, he arrived late to his first weapons and combat lesson, being mocked by his teacher, Mr. Preliator, and been embarrassed in front of the whole class. The only good thing that had happened was a cadets in the class had received a Mech Glove and a single cube containing a sword. They were to learn how to use it in the next lesson. Rallen was happy about this but he didn't know that things were only to get worse…

It was 12pm and it was time for the Cadets to be served lunch. Walking in to the dinner hall with Harry, Rallen saw many officers dashing out of the kitchen with half-eaten sandwiches.  
"Wonder why they're in such a hurry." Harry said watching them rush past. They quickly found an empty table. Jeena soon caught up to them.  
"Hey guys, how were your morning lessons?" Jeena asked politely.  
"Weapons and combat was great!" Harry quickly replied.  
"For you maybe…" Rallen added.  
"Why? Did something go wrong?"  
"You don't want to know…" Rallen said quietly.  
"Well my Ancient languages class was so interesting! Did you know that there were over 900 different languages spoken in the Nanairo system alone?" Jeena said, happy that she'd remembered what she had been taught.  
At that point, Malcolm walked over followed by two larger looking boys that made Malcolm look scrawny.  
"Hey red head! Did you finally make some friends? If you can call these two loser friends!" The two boys behind laughed.  
"Hey!" Jeena said loudly.  
"Oh," Malcolm said in a patronising voice. "And, what are you gonna do about it little miss pinky?" The boys laughed again. Jeena looked away. "So, you had fun in weapon and combat didn't you? Did you come late because you were crying in the bathroom for your mommy?"  
"Hey back off," Harry said defensively. Malcolm gave Harry a scowl and walked off, with the other two boys close behind.  
"So that's that Malcolm kid…" Jeena said quietly.

After their lunch break, a voice came from the sound system.  
"_Would all cadets please go to the dormitory lobbies immeadiately. All officers on site please report to the mission briefing room."  
_All the cadets leaving the dining hall looked surprised at this comment.  
"Dorms, at this time? I wonder what's going on?" Harry said to Rallen and Jeena. Together they walked towards the lobby. Harry began to check his pockets suddenly. "Oh no, I think I left my cube in the weapons and combat room. I'll just go and pick it up quickly." Harry ran off in the other direction.  
"We'll wait for you!" Jeena shouted after Harry.

After about 10 minutes, Rallen and Jeena were still stood were they were. All the other cadets were in the lobby. Suddenly, a large black dust cloud started to move towards.  
"What's that?" Jeena said pointing towards the cloud.  
"I dunno but maybe we should stay away from it." Rallen said beginning to back away. The dust cloud landed in front of the two cadets and figure was visible inside. Once the dust had figure was visible. The figure looked like a mutated woman. She had purple skin. She had two bright purple pig tails and scars on her face in the shape of symbols that didn't look like they meant much. She was wearing a long black dress covering her feet. When she saw Rallen and Jeena she grinned at them evilly.  
"Cadet meat…"

"What do we do?" Jeena whispered into Rallen's ear.  
The woman overheard and laughed evilly.  
"There's nothing you can do darlings! Your bodies now belong to Master Krux!" She took a few steps towards them. Jeena began to back off further. Rallen stood his ground.  
"Rallen, what are you doing?" Jeena said quietly.  
"Maybe I can stall her until an officer comes to finish her off," Rallen replied.  
"What?!" Jeena said surprised. "But what can you do? You've not even learnt how to use your sword properly!"  
"I'm just gonna have to improvise," Rallen said with a grin on his face.  
"But you can't attack someone like that. She looks, and obviously is by what she has said, dangerous!" Jeena said naggingly. "It's common sense!"  
"Yeah? Well my common sense tells me otherwise. Stand back." Rallen warned Jeena. She quickly took a few paces back. Rallen hit a small button on his mech glove. His cube rose to be seen and his sword materialised in his hands. "Wow," Rallen said.  
The woman laughed again.  
"You think you can fight me?"  
"It's the only thing I can do!" Rallen said charging towards her. He struck her on the leg. She let out a small scream and fell to her knees. She gave Rallen an evil look.  
"So you are a threat? Well you're in for it now…" She said fumbling for something in her pocket. "Makonoto! Take care of this child!" She threw a small hexagonal object into the air and a beam of dark light emitted and a creature appeared on the ground. It was like an enlarged mixture of a tiger, wolf and dog. It had grey scales and two small black wings on either side of it. It showed it's teeth, intimidating Rallen. It let out a roar and charged at Rallen. It hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground, unconscious.


End file.
